When Teachers and Administrators Are Asked: Improving Teacher Education through Collaboration.

Young, Alice; Copenhaver, Ron

Both quantitative and qualitative procedures were used to analyze 39 responses to a questionnaire asking cooperating teachers, university preservice teachers, and public school administrators to identify problem areas of the teacher education field experience and to suggest strategies for improvements. The six field experience components which were considered to be most in need of revision included assignments, placement of university student with cooperating teacher, involvement of administrators, classroom planning by university students, conferencing with university supervisor, and orientation. The paper concluded that cooperating teachers desire to be more involved in the classroom planning of student teachers and to have more input in the assignments given to university students. There was a call for participation of the principal in the field experience of the preservice teacher. (JDD)